Effect of Plasma Activated Water and Sodium Caseinate Based Coating on the Quality of Minimally Processed Cherry Tomatoes during Storage

The objective of the work was to preserve the quality of minimally processed (MP) cherry tomatoes during storage combining plasma activated water (PAW) washing treatment and sodium caseinate (SC) based edible coating by: 1) optimizing the sodium caseinate coating formulation to reduce the respiration rate of the product; 2) assessing the impact of the combination of (PAW) and coating on the quality of the product during shelf life. Cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) were coated with SC blended with chitosan (CH) (2% CH/ 4% SC) or guar gum (GG) (8% SC/0,2 % GG; 8% SC/0,3 % GG; 8% SC/0,4 % GG)). Respiration rate results showed that SC/CH coating did not affect the respiration rate of MP cherry tomatoes, whereas SC/GG blends at 0.2 % was able to reduce the respiration rate of almost the 50% at 20°C. However, to avoid the surface stickiness, beeswax (BW) has been included to the matrix. PAW and coating preserved the colour of the product and increased the total polyphenol as well as the microbiological quality of the product during storage.